"This above all; to thine own self be truth"

Ceridwen

the shapeshifting Celtic goddess of knowledge, transformation and rebirth.

The Awen, cauldron of poetic inspiration, is one of her main symbols.

In one part of the Mabinogion which is the cycle of myths found in Welsh legend, Cerridwen brews up a potion in her magical cauldron to give to her hideous son Afagddu (Morfran). She puts young Gwion in charge of guarding the cauldron, but three drops of the brew fall upon his finger, blessing him with the knowledge held within. Cerridwen pursues Gwion through a cycle of seasons until, in the form of a hen, she swallows Gwion, disguised as an ear of corn. Nine months later, she gives birth to Taliesen, the greatest of all the Welsh poets.

She also has a beautiful daughter, Creirwy. Celtic researcher Edward Davies deemed Creirwy “the Proserpine of the British Druids”—also comparing her mother Ceridwen to Ceres of Roman myth. ]Mythographer Jacob Bryant theorized that Creirwy and Ceridwen were essentially “the same mystical personageHer husband was Tegid Foel, His name rendered into English would be “Tacitus the Bald”. In folklore, Tegid Foel is associated with Llyn Tegid (Bala Lake) in Gwynedd and may have been the tutelary deity of that lake.

Ceridwen by Christopher Williams (1910)

The earliest documented permutation of the name KERDWIN is Cyrridven, which occurs in the Black Book of Carmarthen. Sir Ifor Williams translates this name as “crooked woman”, although the precise meaning of the stems cyrrid and cwrr (sometimes translated as “crooked” or “bent”)

Ceridwen by UnripeHamadryad

Ceridwen’s Symbolism

The Cauldron and the dark moon are associated with this Goddess.

Sacred Animals: This Goddess often transformed into a white sow to address her people.
In her myths she also shape shifted into a greyhound and an otter